... Is there anyone in the Family familiar with this; and if so, why not share it with us? ...smh

Long live 'Negro'

The Census Bureau is doing away with the word as a racial designation in favor of 'black' or 'African American.' There goes some important history.March 11, 2013|Sandy Banks

I let Black History Month slide by this year without writing anything about it. I am so over celebrating firsts or reprising triumphal narratives.But news from last month did suggest that we may need a black history lesson — one that goes beyond Rosa Parks on the bus or George Washington Carver's magic with peanuts.

The Census Bureau announced last month that the word "Negro" is being dropped from its lexicon. Next year, when the government conducts its Annual American Survey, folks like me will have two options on census forms: black or African American.
That's choice enough for me. I'm black, and have been since I was a teenager.
Before that, I was either Negro or colored — depending on whether I was at home in Cleveland or visiting my grandparents in Alabama.
But census officials said they are eliminating "Negro" after 100 years because some black Americans consider the term outdated and offensive.

....as I graduated high school and came to the University of Kentucky, Nina Simone was singing To Be Young, Gifted and Black, and I donned that identity proudly.

My mother, however, was embarrassed and humiliated by the term. Negro was a pretty way to say black because black was ugly, she thought. She clung to Negro, a less antagonizing or threatening term, while her daughters were wearing Afros and marching for civil rights.Where had she gone wrong?I remember almost choking on my food the day we watched the evening news and saw blood trickling down the faces of beaten protesters as dozens were shoved into a police wagon, and my mother said being black shouldn't be so hard.I never again heard her use the term Negro.

The names we choose to call ourselves are more than labels, after all. They're signposts on our journey. They reflect our mind-set, our history, our longing to shore up our presence in a country that doesn't always seem to want us.

....as I graduated high school and came to the University of Kentucky, Nina Simone was singing To Be Young, Gifted and Black, and I donned that identity proudly.

My mother, however, was embarrassed and humiliated by the term. Negro was a pretty way to say black because black was ugly, she thought. She clung to Negro, a less antagonizing or threatening term, while her daughters were wearing Afros and marching for civil rights.Where had she gone wrong?I remember almost choking on my food the day we watched the evening news and saw blood trickling down the faces of beaten protesters as dozens were shoved into a police wagon, and my mother said being black shouldn't be so hard.I never again heard her use the term Negro.